Healthy Snack Ideas: Chewy Chocolate, Date and Almond Granola Bars

So yesterday I spent some time scouring the internet for gluten-free healthy snack ideas and low and behold, good old Pinterest was FULL of them.

After clicking away for the better part of an hour (it’s a little addictive), I settled on one that had the least amount of ingredients, was the least expensive and had instructions that even a 10-year-old could follow.

No, wait… I’m lying. I’ve been wanting to make granola bars since last week.

Geoff offered to hunt around for some of the ingredients for me on Monday afternoon because the summer flu had finally found its way to me. Long story short, I kicked that SOB (the flu) to the curb in five days. Yup, nothing but good old bed rest, vitamins and plenty of fluids. Quite chuffed actually. This immune system knows how to put up a good fight these days!

Anyway… back to those granola bars…

These were some of the ingredients I used to make them. Btw, if you’re looking for gluten-free oats, don’t waste your time in the supermarkets like I used to – go straight to the health food shops or Dischem.

I finally found gluten-free oats!

I love cooking and baking, but I really don’t want to spend HOURS in the kitchen.

I’ll be completely honest with you though… I’m not sure if they should have come out crunchy instead of chewy. But you know, I think I prefer them chewy this time round. Maybe next time I’ll bake them instead of refrigerating them.

I know, I know... What was I thinking with these pictures? I blame the poor quality on my phone camera. Although, I did try really hard to make them nice and pretty. One more month to upgrade, and then I promise they’ll be a LOT better. I hope.

Back to the recipe…

I used about the same amount of ingredients as the original recipe, but I added cocoa powder to give it a chocolate flavour and mixed maple syrup with the honey.

It’s so versatile, you can really add whatever things you want in – nuts, seeds, dried fruit, chocolate, etc., so go crazy, get creative and just have fun with it. 🙂

CHEWY CHOCOLATE, DATE AND ALMOND GRANOLA BARS

1 Cup pitted dates, chopped

½ Cup honey and maple syrup mixed

½ Cup peanut butter, smooth and sugar-free

1 Cup raw unsalted almonds, chopped

1½ Cups gluten-free rolled oats

2 T Cocoa powder

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 180º C and line a baking tray with parchment paper (wax paper).

Toast the almonds and rolled oats in the oven for 10 – 15 minutes. Keep an eye on them as the almonds tend to burn quickly!

Place the toasted almonds and oats with the chopped dates and cocoa powder in a bowl – set aside.

In a small pan, warm the honey and maple syrup with the peanut butter over low heat for +/- 3 – 4 minutes.

Pour this over the date/oat/nut mixture and stir until everything is coated properly. Transfer the gooey mixture to a lined baking tray with a new layer of wax paper.

Press down firmly until mixture is flat and evenly spread. Cover with plastic wrap or wax paper and let set in the fridge for 15 – 20 minutes until the mixture has hardened.

[…] I had no idea there was such a thing as gluten-free oats until two weeks ago when I started making granola bars. Talk about blonde. But just in case you’re like me and have found yourself aimlessly […]